Friday, August 10, 2012

The Nursery

The root of the issue is that Phenom loves little furry things.  This is how we arrived at a household full of little furry things that grew up into fat, lazy, furry things.

Two years ago, a furry thing showed up on our back porch that was so skinny that Phenom thought it was a baby opossum.  It turned into a cat.  Then, that cat, about a year ago, had a litter of five kittens directly under a drain pipe, the day before a tropical storm hit.  She was ill equipped to be a mother, and ended up abandoning 4 of the 5 little furry things.  The one that survived, we found a loving home for the moment it could be taken from its mother.

Then, last spring, she had a litter of 3 little furry things.  She had them in the bushes just beyond the fence.  Each day, we could check on them but the fence was reassuring to the mother.  She did a good job with these furry things.  But, we still found a home for them.  They now are catching mice in the barns of a local farm.  (In fact, I have eggs in my fridge right now from the farm.)

Yesterday, I noticed that "'Possum" was skinny again.  When I came home from the office, Phenom told me to go stand in the laundry room.  Sure enough, I could hear little furry things squalling.  'Possum has made the space below the laundry room her nursery.

I don't mind.  When they squall, we know they are safe and when they quickly stop squalling, we know she's tending to them.  I just hope laundry day doesn't freak them out.  And, Phenom is hoping that they are as playful and friendly as the last ones.

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